It is what it is. It is What Is.

Our circumstances are not our experiences. In fact, they are mutually exclusive, although one can influence the other.

Our circumstances are the events and situations in which we find ourselves in our lives. Some of them have a direct line from choices we've made; some seem to be random.

Our experiences are what we make of those circumstances.

In Unity we say that our thoughts and feelings shape our world. "Thoughts held in mind create after their kind."

All too often this is used as basis for "metaphysical malpractice," against ourselves or others, when we blame the outer circumstances that we don't necessarily like on the thoughts and feelings we have. We assert that if we only thought better, or believed more strongly that things would have been different.

But we can never know all of the infinite variables that caused a situation to happen to us. What we can decide is how we will respond to it. We are not at fault for the "bad" things that happen to us, only how we respond to them!

I know this is nothing new, but it bears repeating because all too often the self responsibility tirade is taken to this abusive extreme.

We live in an Infinite Universe. We are each aspects of that Infinite expressing as finite. For that to happen, we all have to have various experiences in various combinations because that is all part of the Infinite experiencing itself. There is no reason why some people have "good" lives and others have "hard" or "bad." It's just part of the Infinite.

This is such a huge idea, such a massive concept, that even I--who believe it completely and use it as my anchor when nothing else seems stable--break it down into little ideas that are more easily managed.

One is Karma. I believe that what I put out there comes back to me. Not because I think it's 100% fair, but because it helps remind me of the kind of person I want to be. I want to be the kind of person that is kinder than necessary. I want to be the person who is compassionate, helpful, sweet, and considerate. So, believing in Karma and creating proof of it in the circumstances I find help me to stay on that path. It is not a fear based belief, (i.e. I don't do something to avoid that happening to me) but rather a tool to remind me of the person I want to be and be around.

The other is the First Principle of Unity. There is Only One Presence, and One Power, active in my life and in the Universe now: God, the Good, Omnipotent.

Except, I edit it. For one, to say only "one power," and then follow with "omnipotent," is redundant. Second, to say there is only one, and then call it "good," is contradictory. If there is good then there must be bad. So either there is only one and it is both good and bad, or there are two. Similarly, I have to ask my self if there is only one power active, are there other powers latent?

So, my second anchor is this: There is Only One Presence and One Power in the Universe, which I call God, and I choose to experience as "Good." This, for me, is the answer to Einstein's assertion that we must each ask ourselves if the Universe is a friendly place. I choose to experience it as such, and choose to experience the circumstances I find myself as conspiring together for my highest good.

Do I really believe that there is a seperate intelligence conspiring either for or against me or anyone else? Nope, not really.

So what is this thing I call God? I experience it as a feeling, a resonance. I can tell the difference between the inner tug I feel that I call ego and the inner tug I feel that I call Spirit. Spirit has a weight to it. Ego has a superficiality, a weakness, that gives me pause and causes me to question its integrity. Spirit sometimes gives me pause as well, but not because I question it's "rightness" but because I fear it's call.

Still, "God," "Spirit," "Ego," "Good," "Bad" etc. are just labels I use to understand the experiences I have, and I acknowledge them as such.

The Taoists have a cautionary parable. If a foreigner comes to you and asks, "What is 'the moon?'" You should point to the moon, but do not let your finger stay too long, lest the foreigner mistake your finger for the moon.

I use labels, smaller chunks of ideas, to understand the greatness of What Is. They are but the fingers, though, that point me at the moon. My great task is in remembering that.